Stumbling onto British photographer Chloe Sheppard’s Instagram account, a treasure trove of pastel-hued film snapshots, feels like unearthing a time capsule. Conjuring up an unshakeable feeling of nostalgia, the sun-drenched models that punctuate her pictures seem eerily familiar, like an old family friend you can’t quite place. That you feel you might know these women is unsurprising: you’ve seen them before. Many times before. Though Sheppard’s photos might appear caught in a 1970s time-loop, they frequently star “It” girls of the moment, from Charli XCX to Barbara Ferreira and Erika Bowes.
Outside of Sheppard’s dreamy world, her protagonists are real people, tainted with the troubles and worries of the everyday. Within it, they embody mirage-like visions of an idealised girlhood. Yet, this isn’t a case of disconnect between artist and muse; far from it. There exists a tangible intimacy between Sheppard and her models — the sense that they are collaborating in the creation of what she calls “an ideal narrative”. For the image-maker, her medium is an extension of an escapist impulse — something that many of us can empathise with. “This is what I wish my life was truly like,” she tells SLEEK candidly. “But it isn’t. So I’m trying to make it seem as though it is through photography.”
Sheppard was drawn to photography at an early age. “I constantly had a camera with me wherever I went and was always taking photos,” she says. “And as I got older, I became increasingly obsessed.” Analogue photography, in particular, has always appealed to her. “I loved looking through old film photos that my family had taken, from the 1950s right up until digital became a thing.” It’s not just the aesthetic of vintage photography that she enjoys, however, but the technical process of shooting on film as well. “It does something to the photos that no digital camera I’ve ever used has ever been able to come close to,” she explains. “And I feel closer to the photographers who’ve inspired me when I shoot film. I love the whole process of it; the darkroom is one of my favourite places to be.”
Given that her introduction to film photography came via family snapshots, it makes sense that Sheppard is also drawn to the materiality of analogue photography — which stands in direct contrast to digital’s ephemeral, easily erased nature. “I hate how instant digital photography is,” she expounds. “How disposable images become when you can shoot so many at once. I am a collector of sorts, and I love the tangibility of film.” This is also the reason that, alongside her 38K-follower Instagram account, Sheppard opts to display her imagery in zines, offering an intimate space for her fans to fully engage with her work. As the photographer expands, “Everything exists so digitally with the internet, and Instagram has become almost like a portfolio platform for artists now. That’s why having a small book that I’d made and could then give to other people seemed so appealing to me. With zines you can’t just scroll past and be done with them — you have them in your hand; you have to take time to digest what’s in them.”
This is certainly true of Sheppard’s latest printed endeavour, All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun. The 236-page zine is a summary of her career so far, giving shape and form to three years of photographic practice. Released in conjunction with her 22nd birthday, the photobook was Sheppard’s gift to herself, a means of “saluting the body of work that got me to where I am now, and acknowledging the changes that are inevitably to come.” Oneiric pictures of the photographer’s muse, Sylvie Beam, abound alongside arrestingly intimate and seldom-seen self-portraits. Comprising her favourite photographs since 2015, previously unpublished work and a foreword by Beam, All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun provides a luminous insight into Sheppard’s evolution as an artist.